Physics

From the forces that keep athletes twirling and sliding, to the weird laws governing the world of the very small, to the far-out concepts of time travel and alternate universes, physics covers a lot of interesting territory. Here, Live Science keeps you abreast of all the fascinating physics discoveries.Physics

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Abstract representation of cold atoms

Scientists just broke the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in a lab

By Joanna Thompson

They did it by sending rubidium atoms into free fall

The time crystal was created inside Google's Sycamore chip, which is kept cool inside their quantum cryostat.

Otherworldly 'time crystal' made inside Google quantum computer could change physics forever

By Ben Turner

The crystals neatly sidestep some of physics' most iron-clad laws.

An artist's depiction of a swirling vortex beam.

1st 'atom tornado' created from swirling vortex of helium atoms

By Ben Turner

Physicists have created the first-ever atomic vortex beam — a swirling tornado of atoms and molecules with mysterious properties that have yet to be understood.

An abstract image of a high-energy collision creating a new particle such as the Higgs boson.

1st sign of elusive 'triangle singularity' shows particles swapping identities in mid-flight

By Paul Sutter

Physicists sifting through old particle accelerator data have found evidence of a highly-elusive, never-before-seen process: a so-called triangle singularity.

Traveling through a wormhole could be possible in certain gravity conditions.

Traversable wormholes are possible under certain gravity conditions

By Paul Sutter

Certain weird gravity conditions would make it possible to travel through a wormhole and back.

An artist's impression of the supersolid, which is like a solid and a liquid at the same time.

Physicists give weird new phase of matter an extra dimension

By Ben Turner

The new phase of matter behaves like a solid and a frictionless liquid at the same time

The STAR detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory detected the matter-antimatter pairs created by the colliding light.

Famous Einstein equation used to create matter from light for first time

By Ben Turner

The particles used were spooky virtual particles, conjured from a disturbance between two electromagnetic fields.

The three galaxies are yanking strands of material from each other as they spiral ever closer.

NASA has glimpsed our galaxy's fate in three-way galactic brawl

By Ben Turner

Despite the apocalyptic appearances, galactic mergers are a frequent and essential part of a galaxy’s life cycle.

An artist's drawing of the new particle, called Tcc+, which is made up of two charm quarks, an up antiquark and a down antiquark.

'Doubly charming' tetraquark is the longest-lived exotic-matter particle ever found

By Ben Turner

Studying the particle could provide physicists with vital insight into the rules that govern how all matter is formed.

An illustration of a black hole.

Light from behind a black hole spotted for 1st time, proving Einstein right

By Ben Turner

Scientists hope to use this new discovery to better understand how space-time warps and bends in the presence of massive objects like black holes.

One of the team's 3-D printed isotropic helicoids.

Was Lord Kelvin wrong? 3D-printed shape casts doubt on his 150-year-old theory

By Ben Turner

A 150-year-old theory about an otherworldly shape proposed by Lord Kelvin, one of history's greatest physicists, has finally been put to the test — and his conjecture is now in doubt.

The meteor, travelling up to 43200 miles per hour, lit up the night sky as if it were daytime.

Flashing meteor that exploded over Norway landed somewhere in a nearby forest

By Ben Turner

Scientists believe the ultra-fast object landed in a densely-forested area near the capital, Oslo. It could take up to ten years to find.

Diana Whitcroft demonstrates capillary action in her Summer School with Live Science series.

Summer School with Live Science: Capillary action

By Diana Whitcroft

We will explore the science of capillary action in our new kids video series: Summer School with Live Science.

Steven Weinberg (right) along with his colleague Sheldon Glashow, who also won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has died

By Tia Ghose

The physicist unified two of the four fundamental forces.

A top down view of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's 1960s molten salt reactor experiment, an early precursor to the Chinese reactor.

China is gearing up to activate the world's first 'clean' commercial nuclear reactor

By Ben Turner

Plans for thorium reactors have been around since the 1940s, but Chinese scientists believe they are finally close to creating a working prototype.

Bezos shows the aviation glasses that once belonged to Amelia Earhart, which he took with him during the flight, at the post-flight press conference.

Jeff Bezos went to the edge of space. Does that make him an astronaut?

By Ben Turner

The billionaire's flight has opened up a debate about what "astronauts' and "space' even are.

Abstract image of a cosmic donut.

Our universe might be a giant three-dimensional donut, really.

By Paul Sutter

Astrophysicists say our universe might be shaped like a three-dimensional donut, meaning you could point a spaceship in one direction and eventually return to where you started.

Abstract background, quantum physics, wave function

AI designs quantum physics experiments beyond what any human has conceived

By Anil Ananthaswamy

Originally built to speed up calculations, a machine-learning system is now making shocking progress at the frontiers of experimental quantum physics

The ice can bend so much it can nearly form a circle.

Scientists create super-bendy ice

By Ben Turner

The researchers believe their new bendy ice strands could give us some important hints into how water ice behaves in its natural state.

Dark matter particles might interact with each other.

Can we explain dark matter by adding more dimensions to the universe?

By Paul Sutter

Dark matter could be even weirder than anyone thought, say cosmologists who are suggesting this mysterious substance could interact with itself in a higher dimensional universe.